So many things inspire me—photographs, sculptures, landscapes, buildings, things people say—and when it happens, it’s always a small and indescribable moment. You look at something and it’s beautiful and strange—or maybe it’s horrible and strange—so much so that you can see and feel what’s beyond it. You catch your breath; your imagination stirs and growls and starts to grow new arms and legs and kidneys.

I have some photos of an icy, mountainous wasteland torn from an old National Geographic; I think these inspired some of the landscapes in Graceling. During the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the TV coverage showed Greek monasteries sitting atop impossible, unreachable pillars of rock. That probably inspired Ror City, and some of the other Lienid landscapes.

An oak tree in my neighborhood inspired parts of my second book (Fire, out next fall), as did the colors of the sky and the river at dusk. With the book I’m writing now, tentatively titled Bitterblue, sculptures I saw years ago are crowding into my mind—in particular, Bernini’s Daphne and Apollo, which is a sculpture of a woman turning painfully into a tree.

I think anything that stops you and makes you aware can be inspiring.

Is your writing space a place of loveliness? Describe where you work.

I just got up and did about 30 minutes of cleaning, because your question properly shamed me. Now I can say that my writing space is a place of loveliness.

I write longhand in a green armchair in a (usually) sunny window. (I live in northeast Florida). A dragon kite hangs from the ceiling above me. Across from me is a low bookshelf, with books (naturally), pictures of my parents and sisters, a statue of a striped cat with a long neck, a pair of Groucho Marx glasses, and a road atlas, a world atlas, and the Star Wars Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy so that I always know where I am. There’s an inflatable globe on the floor that I kick around a lot; there’s a side table to my left covered with books, letters, post-it notes, and my cup of tea. There are college-age young men trying to kill themselves on skateboards outside the window to my right. On my walls: a picture of Sydney, Australia; hangings from Cameroon and Ecuador (gifts—I’ve never been); and, two alphabet posters—one the Finnish alphabet and one the Alternative Alphabet Poster for Little and Big People (C is for Compost; V is for Vote; you get the idea).

I write in a place of great comfort. The light turns yellow in the afternoon and shines through the trees onto my walls. When it rains in Florida, it really rains, and I sit in my armchair and watch palm tree fronds float down the street. I’m from the north, where palm tree fronds do not float down the street, so it never fails to feel strange and wonderful to me.

Based on things you’ve written in your blog, it sounds like you actually enjoy the writing process (gasp), and that you don’t find the writing life especially torturous. So what’s your secret to enjoying both the writing process and the result?

I do enjoy it, except for when I hate it, and I don’t find it torturous, except for when I feel like I’m being eaten from the inside by my cannibalistic brains. :)

I think that every book comes with its own heaven and hell, and the secret to loving the process changes each time to suit the book. With Graceling, the secret was a mix of sheer determination and finding the fun in it. With Fire, I never found the secret—that book kicked my ass from beginning to end. With my current project, Bitterblue, I’m in danger of being overwhelmed by too many details, and the secret seems to be backing up, finding perspective, and hanging on to my faith that I can do what my ambition wants me to do.

Some of my practical tools these days for keeping perspective: some brief morning yoga; some brief nighttime meditation; walks along the water; and spending as little time as possible in my office, which is where I keep my computer. The Internet is a wonderful invention but it’s also a black hole—especially when you’re a writer whose first book has just entered the world.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

This is less a piece of writing advice than a feeling I’ve gained in my time of working with my editor. In response to my occasional freak outs, in response to my moments of panic over this or that part of this or that book, she has said, over and over, “I trust you.” And you know what? That’s an amazing thing to be told. The other day, she e-mailed me this: “The process might feel like crap sometimes, but your heart and your brain will carry you through every time. I promise.”

It is awesome to be believed in.

For me, right now, writing, at its base, is about having the faith of a mustard seed: doing something, and doing it with all my heart, even on the days when 99% of me doesn’t believe I can do it¬—because 1% is enough. The best writing “advice” I’ve ever received is the trust of my editor, which has made it so much easier for me to have faith in myself.

Since I’m a MG Fiction judge for the 2008 Cybils Awards, I’m not supposed to review titles that have been nominated until the first round judges have decided on finalists. This makes my life a little tricky, since of course, I’m trying to read as many of the nominated titles as I can, just to be informed, but I’m not allowed to review them. Curses. A girl has to have something she can blog about, and there are only so many hours in the day to read books. So I’ve decided there’s no harm in giving readers a snapshot look at some of the Cybils- nominated titles as I read my way along. Not reviews, think of these as three-sentence summaries of some of the books up for consideration for the MG fiction prize this year. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to read a couple:

Addy McMahon wants to be a writer and she’s been creating her “autobiogra-strip” and her trademark interviews in order to get better and better with words. One problem – she’s pretty sure she’s cursed and all sorts of things start going wrong at home and at school to prove it. For aspiring artists and kids who like stories that capture real-life.

Set in Louisiana in the desperate years of the Depression, Tennyson is the moody and dreamy tale of the mysterious, long-suffering Fontaine family and their once-grand plantation, Aigredoux. After a family crisis, Tennyson Fontaine and her sister Hattie end up living at Aigredoux, discovering its secret history, and Tennyson learns that it could be her fate to restore her family’s fortunes. For readers who love mystery and history and family stories.

The Willoughby children detest their parents and their parents detest them. Desperate to become orphans, the children hatch a plan to make their dream come true, proving themselves resourceful and winsome and every bit as worthy as the characters they admire from old-fashioned books. Made for quirky and clever readers who gobble up stories by Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl.

Those are just 3 of the titles nominated for a Cybils award in the MG Fiction category this year. View the rest here.

T4 by Anne Clare LeZotte offers readers tremendous insight into an aspect of the Holocaust not frequently explored in books for young people: the Nazi program to murder the mentally ill and disabled. The title of this verse novel comes from the name of the program itself, called after the address of its headquarters in Berlin, on Tiergartenstrasse 4.

The narrator/poet is 13-year old Paula Becker, who became deaf before she turned two and communicates with her family through her own form of sign language. She tells the story of her initial challenges communicating with her family, her happy days spent helping her mother at home and playing with her dog and learning to read, and feeling the church organ’s music shake her “body and soul.” This comfortable life changes forever when the Nazis’ eugenics program begins to target people like Paula, branding them “unfit to live.” She is forced to leave her family and go into hiding, moving from one place to another whenever her refuge becomes unsafe. The novel follows her through the war, and we meet those who protect her, and others who are hiding too. Paula is one of the lucky people who returns to her home and her family, everyone safe after all of that suffering.

You cannot say that T4 is a book you “enjoy” reading, better to notice that it is compelling and moving and difficult. LeZotte has created a story that takes you in, poem by poem, and then by the end, you realize that you’ve taken this story inside yourself. This is not a book you can read and forget. The poems are simple, but deceptively so. They have a direct, unflinching quality that feels authentic, as if the narrator just sat down and started remembering, telling you, “This is how it was. Just like this.”

T4 is a survival story, a story about family and trust and difference. Readers will know that they have gained new perspective into this historical period. It will certainly inspire many questions from young people, and so it is a book that requires maturity and some prior understanding of the nature of the Holocaust. Ann Clare LeZotte proves that telling a story simply, in very few, carefully chosen words, makes for a profoundly affecting reading experience.

Little Lions, Bull Baiters & Hunting Hounds is a book made for browsing. This is the first collaboration for husband and wife illustration team Jeffy Crosby and Shelley Ann Jackson. Inspired by their two pooches (a Shih Tzu and a Dachshund), Jeff and Shelley offer readers a gorgeous illustrated history of dog breeds from hunting and herding dogs to companion breeds. While you might be tempted simply to ooh and ah over the artwork on these pages, I’m impressed by how informative a text this book is. There is certainly enough information here to keep even the most curious dog-loving kid occupied for a long time. Every breed is presented with a detailed illustration, showing the dog at work or play, as well as a map indicating the dog’s original homeland and a concise history of the breed, along with its particular traits and quirks. You’ll learn which type of dog is able to spot birds and planes flying through the sky, which dog is likely to drool you into submission, and which breed has earned the nickname, “World’s Fastest Couch Potato.” I appreciate how the facts aren’t run-of-the-mill. I imagine lots of careful research went into creating a book this comprehensive and entertaining.

This book would make a smashing Christmas / Thanksgiving / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa gift for animal-loving kids as young as 7 or 8. I know I would have curled up on a pillow next to the Christmas tree and read the day away if I’d found this in my stocking. Perfect companion read? That’s a no-brainer: James Herriot’s Treasury for Children.

A portion of the proceeds from this book is to be donated to animal welfare organizations. I like it. I like it. I like it. Check out Just One More Book’s podcast on this one.